Got an email yesterday offering me a opportunity to try the new UltimateDefrag program by Disk Trix Technologies. It is only a BETA - but it did not work for me. It was supposed to improve load times on the Mega Scenery files, etc. I tried to defrag the external drive my FS files are on. It was going slow, so I aborted the process & decided to try it again later and choose to exclude the defrag process on certain files I did not care about defragging (an option of yours in this program). Well, the program crahsed & my drive has completely failed. The folks at Dell said that I need to get a data recovery specialist (expensive, I am sure) as the files have to be pulled off the drive, the drive reformatted, and then the files put back on. The drive apparently is fine from a hardware standpoint, but the data got completely corrupted somehow and now windows cannot find the drive when I power it on. Yes - it is all my fault for trying a BETA - please don't make me feel any worse by reminding me. I am just absolutely beside myself. I just wanted to warn you all about my experience. Please just be careful. Unless you are really confident, you may want to skip trying this BETA program.Chris Catalno

Sorry to hear that Chris, been there done that. Amazing how times like this make us realise how fragile our digital data can be.The name "Disc Trix" would have been my first clue, LOLHope you get it sorted out bro!Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/ambanner.jpg

sorry to hear that, but don't toss out your HD yet.it sounds like you have this HD as a secondary drive correct? (windows is on another drive, and your system boots fine). One thing you can try is to go into disk-management (under admin-tools), and see if it "sees" the drive. If so, then you can run disk-checking software (such as chkdsk), and see if you can un-corrupt the disk).i was defragging once when the power went out (i didn't have a UPS at the time). The machine rebooted and couldn't get into windows (BoD after windows logo). However, pressing F8 during boot allowed me to get into DOS. Ran chkdsk there and it fixed the corrupted files...and windows booted up fine after.-feng

Got the same email, I ignored it as I usually do unsolicitated offers!! Sorry to here you got burned with it!!

There are several utilities on the market which can help recover your data. I know one is called "getdataback".Brad.

Thanks for the warning mate and Im sorry to hear about your data-loss.Hope you manage to get it sorted and restore all your backups. On the other hand if the drive is trashed new ones are not that expensive but I strongly suggest not selling.giving away the old drive until you are 500% sure all data is wiped from it.

Sorry to hear about your troubles Chris. I hpoe you are able to recover data that you are concerned about. Now, I don't know if you'll see the humor in the following spoof of an old commercial although I hope you still have a sense of humor so that you do, but anyway, I couldn't resist... }(Silly Flwight Swimmers, Trix are for kids! :+

Mmm sorry to hear this. I had the same offer and tried it. The offer to betatest this program came from DiskTrix .It's the company from Robert Ferraro the maker, of SystemBooster XP, which I use with happy results. Lookhere for more info: http://www.disktrix.com/The program did a defrag on my system without any problems. Yes it went slow, but defragging is slow when your HD is completely reshuffled. The windows defragger is just wimpy sh*t so you should not compare both w.r.t. timeBut people should always read the accompanying readme. When you do so you could have read the warning that you should have made a backup of critical data. That's it's beta software, that defragging a still risky operation that should not be interrupted.But anyhow I'm terrible sorry to hear that your data has gone down the drain. Consider contacting Robert to tell him and to improve his program. because I think this program has a lot of potential.All the best,Rob "Holland&Holland" de Vries http://fool.exler.ru/sm/fly2.gif"To go up, pull the stick back. To go down, pull the stick back harder"

I can relate to this event. In late 2001 Windows crapped out on me, and I lost 99% of my HD content :(. Ever since then I back up everything, as I don't want a repeat of 2001's "Winter of Discontent" :-boom

I have my HDs in nests in a mid-tower with 4 5-1/4 slots. Before any defrag or system utlity application, beta or not including default utilities furnished with Win, I place a like backup HD in nest #2 and image copy the drive in nest #1 using a third party program (it also duplicates the disk ID). I do this prior to Win upgrades and after installing downloaded copy protected software.Nests are only about $40 dollars (one cartridge included) and HD cartridges about $20. There are a few brands around. Buy a few spare cartridges in case the nest model goes away.If a disk gets corrupted this way I can run off the backup and then create a new backup. For my 80 Gb ATA, it takes less than two hours but is time well spent every few weeks.Remember, despite the "SAFE" hype abouts RAIDS, they do not protect against software corruption.

Again, sorry to hear the bad stories.........I got the Beta also, and I routinely defrag both Windows on my computer (one for internet and one for FS) but the install went fine and I did defrag on both sides........the internet side is blazing fast!!! no problems whatsoever, in fact, cannot type or think quick enough to keep up, have not had chance to use the FS side yet but that defrag was very quick so think there may not be as dramatic a difference......also just installed the FSX Demo on the internet drive and used for a few minutes, but that looked like a totally different FS, amazing things are happening for us.......anyway have to put in a good word for this product before too many question this offering..........B42L8

Hi Chris, I ended up trying that program as well, defragged my entire HD. Not noticing any problems here though. Jeff

Hi Chris,Sorry to hear your hard drive crashed. I have the beta too and have had no problems. Are you sure this program caused your harddrive to crash? The help file that accompanied the beta states it is completely (100%) safe on NTFS formatted drives. Here's the statement:"Is UltimateDefrag (and Defragging) Safe?This is one question that a lot of people ask. In the pre-NTFS days there was risk to defragging. If there was a power outage in the midst of a defrag

The problem is stopping something in mid action...nothing more, nothing less. Take a dog away from it's dinner and you know what I mean...http://emoticone-smiley.com/clin/angry_dog.gifRob "Holland&Holland" de Vries http://fool.exler.ru/sm/fly2.gif"To go up, pull the stick back. To go down, pull the stick back harder"

I also want to chime in,that I am also using this beta on dual hardrives with win-xp-pro,with no issues. I have a noticable performance increase with FS9 and FSX.